Love and romance are in the air on Valentine's Day.
And being the data-driven and customer-led platform we are, we put our heart where our numbers are and analyzed the customer activity of several retailers from different sectors around the holiday.
Here are the looks of love.
The heart of the week before Valentine’s Day
Last year, February 12th – two days leading up to love day, was the busiest shopping day in the entire month of February. A leading stationery retailer, for instance, experienced an increase in sales of 92% on this day compared to the daily average.
Data shows that the uplift in sales among all the brands we analyzed starts on February 7th, a week before the big day, and reaches its peak on the 12th. By February 15th, sales tend to drop sharply.
So, ensure your brand is up to speed across all marketing channels. For example, update your emails (perhaps even the template skin) so that they’re sweet and festive to romancing customers to log in and make a purchase.
Don’t forget to update your website and app with relevant content too.
Couple it with a YoY analysis
The second analysis we conducted ran between February 7th and 14th (the week before Valentine's Day) in 2021 and 2022. We found that the number of customers increased by 47% in 2022, and the total order amount increased by 64% on average.
What does this mean for brands in 2023?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, total retail sales in the third quarter of 2022 increased by 9.1% from the third quarter of 2021, and e-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2022 accounted for 14.8% of total sales.
Optimove Marketing Data Analysts predict that the sales increase will likely continue this year. Therefore, marketers want to be ready with heartfelt creative sets.
A recent Forbes report predicted that this Valentine’s Day spending will hit $26 billion, one of the highest on record.
“This year, as consumers embrace spending on friends and loved ones, retailers are ready to help customers celebrate Valentine’s Day with memorable gifts at affordable prices,” stated NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in the same report.
But who do your customers love most?
We checked who customers spend the most on for different holidays – their significant other, mother, father, or family.
Here’s the order of holidays in which several brands experienced the most sales:
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Mother’s Day - Mommy
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Valentine’s Day - Lovers
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Father’s Day - Daddy
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Family Day - The whole lot of them
So, our data is consistent with customers love their moms the most – an Optimove analysis from a few years back.
Furthermore, we looked at KPIs, including the number of orders and total order amounts, and found that Mother’s Day saw a 30% increase in sales compared to Valentine’s Day. However, the average order amount is roughly the same on both Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day (so lovers can relax).
An excellent strategy to implement this Valentine's Day would be to upsell. Offer customers an improved version of what they’ve added to their cart or simply suggest value-added features when they’re about to checkout. For example, try “Typically bought together” item recommendations.
The secret to customer love
Our analysis of customer activity from several retailers across different sectors revealed some interesting trends around this special holiday:
- The week leading up to Valentine's Day is a prime time for sales, with peak day on Feb 12th
- YoY comparison showed a 47% increase in the number of customers and a 64% increase in the total order amount - so this year is "hotting up" to be the steamiest yet
- Customers still tend to love their mothers the most, followed by Valentine's Day and then Father's Day
Don't miss out on the chance to show your love and appreciation to your customers this lover’s day.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
